"Hindsight is usually 20/20. In looking back at metal over the years, it could be said the genre was at its best and most creative from 1985 to 1995. Thrash was approaching its summit in the late 80s while death metal and black metal were right there ready to be handed the torch once thrash fell off in the early 90s. Those ten years brought about so much innovative and great music, the King highly doubts a time will come when such widespread creativity will be matched. Today we are left with essentially derivatives of those years, as most bands are heavily influenced by the products of those innovators and rightfully so.

These are the years from which we draw from today, as Moulded Flesh drinks straight from the reservoir that was late 80s thrash and early 90s death metal. The trio, a fact that makes them kick so much more ass, has certainly picked up bits and pieces from several thrash and death metal progenitors, so try to imagine something similar to a combination of Deicide and Obituary being peppered with thrash-y outbursts courtesy of Kreator and the like. Sounds fairly tolerable, right? Moulded Flesh do a great job of using these influences without ever flat-out plagiarizing.

Before the King gets down to the nuts and bolts of the album, there are some generalizations that can be made about the material here. These songs are typically up-tempo with minor variations providing slight changes of pace, though nothing ever dips below mid-tempo and even those times only last briefly. The songs also avoid all gimmicks and rely simply on the riffs - and there are a shit ton of those. There are brutal sections butted against surprisingly dexterous and ridiculously cool thrash riffs. There are also almost no leads on the entire album, yet never is their presence missed, as the riffs carry a great deal of melody and are simply catchy as hell.

A pump action shotgun chambers opener "Someday", a no-frills death metal assault where the classic mid-tempo breakdown (remember those?) requires all your will power not to destroy the closest object. The start of "The Last Homage" births dark, disjointed thrash riffs and "Satan Is Here" brings the fires of hell with its twisted riffs, rumbling bass breaks and old-school filth. Because the album starts with a pump of a shotgun, personal favorite "...And Nothing Else" would be the decisive pull of the trigger as its explosive riffs and slight tempo changes hit you square on while the slower pace and slacker rhythms of closer "Death Is Redemption" would be you slowly losing consciousness as the blood drains from the visceral mess that used to be your gut. This is the old-school in all of its destructive glory.

The King has but only one significant complaint. When going retro with the style of music and analog format, why make the production sound so damn nice? Vocals aside, the production here is way too tight and clean. The only benefit of the production is you will be able to clearly hear the sweet drum performance. The cymbal work perfectly accents the riffs, the fills are varried and the double bass provides a nice foot in the ass to really push these songs.

Despite some of the songs bleeding into one another, there are never really any moments where the album plays as though you have heard it all before even though the entire aesthetic is definitely borrowed. While it may not be 1991 again, Death Is Redemption will have you reaching for your patch-filled, denim jacket one more time. It is simply 26 minutes of quality songwriting unearthed from decades past. -4.0/5.0"